A defiant Keir Starmer insisted he “will not walk away” and has vowed to fight on as Labour leader and prime minister after his party received a pummelling in local elections across the UK.
With Nigel Farage’s Reform taking hundreds of seats in both Labour and Tory heartlands and a surge by the Green Party, the prime minister said he took full responsibility for the defeats, with Labour on course for record losses.
MPs on the left of the party and trade union leaders have demanded he set a timetable for his resignation, but ministers have insisted there would be no attempt to push Sir Keir out.
Meeting Labour activists in London as the results came in, Sir Keir vowed: “I’m not going to walk away and plunge the country into chaos.”
His words came as the electoral map in the UK was being redrawn:
- In Wales, Labour lost control for the first time since devolution in 1999, with outgoing first minister Eluned Morgan losing her seat
- The Greens won their first directly elected mayor, seizing the position from Labour in Hackney, east London
- Reform stormed councils around the country, taking control of Essex and Suffolk from the Tories and Havering in London
- Mr Farage’s party also made huge gains at Labour’s expense in the northwest of England, raising questions over whether Andy Burnham or Angela Rayner could take over from Starmer
- In Scotland, the SNP were on course to be the largest party, but with no majority, with Labour and Reform battling for second place
Speaking in Romford, Mr Farage insisted history was being made with the election results. “I can honestly say you are witnessing an historic shift in British politics. This [Reform UK] is now the most national of all parties,” he said.
Mr Farage claimed that victory for Reform in Essex meant that Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and five members of her shadow cabinet would lose their seats in a general election.
But she clung to victories in London, where the Tories took back control of Westminster Council from Labour and had an effective majority in Wandsworth.
She said: “The Conservatives are coming back. From Westminster to Wandsworth, Harlow to Bexley, Fareham to Broxbourne, people can see we are a party renewed. There is much more to do, but we have the plan and team to get Britain working again.”
But going into the weekend, attention is turning to whether Sir Keir can survive as leader and prime minister after a bruising first two years in office, overshadowed by the welfare rebellion and Peter Mandelson scandal.
Already, trade union leaders, some of Labour’s biggest supporters, have lined up to demand a change of leadership.
Andrea Egan, the general secretary of Unison, Britain’s largest union, said: “Labour faces oblivion because it is not delivering for the vast majority of people.
“What must change is not just the leader but the entire approach: only a Labour government which always puts the interests of workers before the wealthy can succeed.”
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “The writing is on the wall for this Labour government, and it could be the beginning of the end for the party itself. The working class have been abandoned and have delivered their verdict.”
FBU general secretary Steve Wright said Labour’s “devastating election results” were a “consequence of Keir Starmer’s government failing to deliver for working people”, while TSSA general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust said Labour “urgently” needs a leadership election” for a candidate who can “stop the very real danger of a far right government coming to power in this country”.
However, with Labour losing all the council seats fought in Wigan and 16 of the 17 in Tameside, which includes Ms Rayner’s constituency in Greater Manchester, the results also dampened her hopes and those of Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham of replacing Sir Keir.
While most Labour MPs kept their counsel, a number came out swinging to claim enough was enough.
Stroud MP Simon Opher, previously a Starmer loyalist, turned on the PM, warning: “If we go into the next election with [Starmer] as leader we will get slaughtered” adding, “I feel he is holding us back”.
Norwich South MP Clive Lewis, whose local city council was taken by the Greens, said: “He [Starmer] has to outline his timetable for departure by the autumn. It’s a non-negotiable.”
Liverpool Riverside MP Kim Johnson said: “I am sickened that leaders of the Labour party – Starmer, Morgan McSweeney and Labour Together – destroyed Labour.”
But another critic, former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, warned that a period of reflection was needed and there should not be a coup to replace Sir Keir.
Deputy prime minister David Lammy insisted that “you should not change the pilot mid-flight”, calling for Sir Keir to be given more time to get the party back on course.
And Baroness Morgan, who had been critical of Sir Keir during the election campaign, took personal responsibility as she lost her seat as Labour was humiliated in Wales.
She said: “Keir Starmer was not on the ballot; I take responsibility for this defeat.”
However, Scottish leader Anas Sarwar insisted he stands by his calls earlier this year for Sir Keir to stand down, admitting Scottish Labour lost the “argument for change”.
In February, he called on the prime minister to quit amid the row over the appointment of Lord Mandelson as US ambassador and his sacking due to his links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Speaking on Friday, as the SNP looks set to be the largest party in Holyrood, a dejected Mr Sarwar said: “We made an argument for change and ultimately, it’s an argument we lost.”
Sir Keir admitted he was “hurt” by the results but said he took full responsibility. He said: “The results are tough. They are very tough. There is no sugar coating this. We have lost brilliant Labour representatives across the country.
“These are people who put so much into their communities, so much into our party and our movement. And that hurts. And it should hurt. And I take responsibility.”
But he added: “I am not going to walk away”.
Meanwhile, with his party making gains from Labour, Green leader Zack Polanski joined Mr Farage in declaring the “death of two-party politics in Britain”.
Hailing the victory of new Hackney mayor Zoë Garbett, he said: “People are sick and tired of Labour, but also really excited about a Green alternative, which is about protecting people and our planet. I said I wanted to replace Labour and we will.”
The Lib Dems made gains, including taking control of Portsmouth, winning every seat in Richmond in London, and in West Surrey.
Leader Sir Ed Davey said: “As results continue to come in, the Liberal Democrats are winning big in former Conservative heartlands. In areas like Surrey it’s clear the Conservatives are finished and it’s now between the Liberal Democrats and Reform.”
